I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf Influence Central for Sprint. I received sample devices to facilitate this review, but all opinions are my own.Ok, so you guys should know that I'm not a huge gadget fanatic--that's more Mr. TFT's forte. That being said: HOLY CRAP, the HTC One M8 is absolutely AMAZEBALLS. It's like the cool, suave mom-mobile of smartphones. Beware: once you read this review, you'll want one too!The three major selling points of this phone for me were Design, Camera, and Sound. DESIGN

As I'm sure the rest of you parents know, kids are rough on phones. No matter how much I try to keep my phone away from Thing 1 and Thing 2, they inevitably manage to throw it, drop-kick it, or otherwise test its fortitude. With the all metal body of the HTC One M8, I'm a lot less worried. It's a quite sturdy device. On top of that, HTC offers HTC Advantage, which provides:

Free one time screen replacement in the first 6 months

Automatic Software Updates

Up to 100 GB of additional cloud storage and backup

The M8 manages to be at once sturdy and sleek. In addition to the quality materials used for its construction, the M8 also fits quite nicely in the hand. It's large enough that browsing webpages isn't a complete pain in the arse, but just small enough that it fits nicely in the hand. I feel all fancy and junk.CAMERAI will freely admit to being one of those moms who takes millions of photos of her kids. (But I promise I only share 9,999,980 of them on Facebook...the rest go to Instagram. Balance, folks. Balance.) The camera on the M8 makes other smartphone cameras I've used look like children's playthings. It has dual rear facing cameras, UltraPixels, UFocus, Pan 360, and the new HTC Eye.UltraPixels: I'm not exactly sure what this means, but they tell me UltraPixels are twice the average size and allow the camera to capture 300% more light. Sounds good to me!UFocus: When our lovely HTC rep, Mary Vo told us about this feature, I'm pretty sure I did a little fist pump. UFocus allows you to bring blurry objects into focus, even AFTER you shoot a photo. This means no more begging squirmy children to be still, or worrying about making sure the focus is on the correct object. Just get everything in frame and polish the photo later. I am IN LOVE with this feature (and so are my wiggly subjects).

Photo 1: Focus is on the pink folder in the background. Oops, but I meant to focus on the folder in the foreground!

Photo 2: A little UFocus magic, and now the proper subject is in focus!

Pan 360: Allows you to capture a full 360 panoramic dome view and tilt the phone to move the image around on the screen.HTC Eye Experience: When I first received my M8, this feature was not yet released, and I was on pins and needles because it sounded so amazing. This special feature offers:

Auto and voice selfies

Face Tracking (just stay in frame and the camera keeps you in focus)

Split Capture (uses front and back cameras to capture a complete and unique image)

Crop Me In (allows you to put yourself in any photo)

Face Fusion (have fun with face blending)

Live Makeup (applies makeup for those early morning Skype sessions...no joke)

Photo Booth (stylize those selfies)

Crop Me In: Clearly this image is a little ridiculous (Thanks, Mr. TFT for making me a "creeper"), but can you see the possibilities?!

Split Capture

As both a blogger and a mother, I CANNOT get enough of this camera. Mr. TFT can have his bulky DSLR, because I can take awesome photos with my handy dandy smartphone!SOUNDDual front-facing stereo speakers project clear, crisp audio toward you instead of away from you. Built in amps optimize sound, and bass to treble balancing software provides distortion free sound. (The M8 is all about the Bass AND Treble...Sorry, I couldn't help myself.) There's also a temperature sensing control that automatically lowers power to protect against speaker damage. The audio features on this phone make for great impromptu dance parties with the littles! And I can honestly say that anything from Disney soundtracks to Hozier sound amazing on the M8's speakers. Not that WE have been dancing around the kids' rooms in our pjs blasting music on Mommy's phone. Nope. Not us...Overall, I can honestly and in good conscience say that this phone is the best I've had in a very long time. If you have the money to spend or are trying to decide what device to spend your upgrade on, I highly recommend this one. It's available on all four major US carriers, and, if you're with Sprint and can get the Harman/Kardon edition, you'll get some awesome added benefits like Clari-Fi (which restores all types of compressed digital music, giving it new life), LiveStage (which provides a more life-like headphone listening experience), and the Harman/Kardon AE-S In-Ear Headphones (which Mr. TFT is coveting and plotting to make his own).